The report was commissioned by London Assembly Member Caroline Pidgeon Credit: Nick Ansell/PA Archive

New evidence has revealed that in many parts of London there has been a sharp rise in the number of vulnerable children who have gone missing from the care of the capital's local authorities in the last year.

The report, London's Children: Missing From Care, launched today by London Assembly Member Caroline Pidgeon, provides a picture of how many children have gone missing and how many times, using freedom of information requests sent to all 32 London boroughs.

The report was able to compare information from 21 London boroughs with similar information collected last year and it is now possible to accurately compare the changes between 2013 and 2014 in 11 London Boroughs.

In these 11 boroughs, 231 vulnerable children went missing for more than 24 hours in 2013. A year later in 2014 the number of runaway children had risen to 504 - an increase of 118 per cent.

Some examples of the rise in runaway children include:

Enfield: 110 children went missing from care 251 times in the last year. Between 2013 and 2014 the number of children going missing from care increased by 358 per cent from 24 to 110. A closer examination of the statistics shows a 722 per cent increase in missing children in borough placements

Brent: 93 children went missing from care on 172 occasions last year. Between 2013 to 2014 the number of children going missing from care increased by 94 per cent from 48 to 93 children.

Camden: 65 children went missing from care 151 times last year. Between 2013 and 2014 the number of children going missing from care increased by 51 per cent from 43 to 65.

·Lewisham: between 2013 and 2014 the number of children going missing from care increased by 164 per cent from 28 to 74 children.

Over 300,000 trips a day are made in taxis and minicabs - and as the taxi debate in London heats up, the London Assembly Transport Committee begins a timely investigation today into taxi and private hire services in London.

Credit: PA

The London Assembly will investigate if taxi and private hire services are meeting passenger needs, how can safety be improved, and can London learn any lessons from the experiences of New York and other world cities?